The One That Got Away: Puka Nacua Officially Joins BYU

The navy blue jersey is not all that different than the purple shirt he wore, but it's still a little strange to see Puka Nacua in a BYU uniform.

The former University of Washington wide receiver made his transfer to his hometown school official on Wednesday by signing his scholarship papers, Cougars coach Kalani Sitake announced.

BYU made sure to let everyone know it has this talented pass-catcher, as well as his brother Samson, a Utah transfer, officially on board by releasing the hastily assembled graphic shown above.

For all the offseason turnover at the UW, Puka Nacua is the one departure that was unsettling to Jimmy Lake's program. Just listen to the UW coach talk about him in last season's video.

While he hadn't had a chance to really flourish yet — he broke his foot as a freshman and missed part of last season with COVID-related issues — Nacua had star power written all over him.

Yet while he was once this hotly pursued player, where this once 4-star recruit first committed to USC and then switched over to Washington, Nacua turned out to be a homebody after all. He decided he didn't need to be in Los Angeles or Seattle to showcase his skills.

Whether that hurts him in the long run in his pursuit of his pro football dreams remains to be seen. After all, BYU is not the Pac-12. It has to hunt for games. It has to continually prove to the rest of the college football landscape that it belongs with the big boys.

Lest you forget how the unbeaten Cougars won a national championship in 1984, edging out one-loss Washington, a Don James team that thought it had made enough of a statement with a 28-17 Orange Bowl thrashing of Oklahoma to leapfrog the Utah school.

Just the other day, a linebacker from that Husky team said it would have beaten the 1984 team BYU by 30 points.

Either way, the Cougars have Nacua on its roster and Washington is still wincing over the loss of his talent.

There is no debating that at all, no matter what some jilted UW fans thinks. He gave a glimpse of his capabilities with his catch and burst for a 65-yard touchdown against Arizona last November.

Nacua is a sophomore with up to three more seasons to play. He could pile up a lot of numbers in that pass-happy offense.

BYU knows it has latched on to someone special to throw to, even though Nacua is still awaiting the NCAA to pass legislation that makes him immediately eligible.

“We are very excited about the additions of Samson and Puka,” Sitake said in a school news release. “They are both experienced and talented receivers and come from an amazing family and a great bloodline of football players to come through BYU."

The Nacua brothers are the third and fourth members of that family to play for the Cougars, following siblings Kaimana and Isaiah into the program, with Kaimana now with the San Francisco 49ers.

Puka is likely the best of them.

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